Donald Trump's resounding victory returning him to the White House promises to bring a pro-gun, conservative criminal justice policy back to Washington.
In the campaign, the two candidates couldn’t be further apart on gun policy. Vice President Harris called for universal background checks and an assault weapons ban, while former President Trump favored loosening concealed carry laws nationwide.
The Trump triumph gives him the power to dismantle three years of gun violence prevention measures enacted under President Biden, who did more to try to stem gun violence than any president in decades, The Trace reports.
“In my second term, we will roll back every Biden attack on the Second Amendment — the attacks are fast and furious — starting the minute that Crooked Joe shuffles his way out of the White House,” Trump told National Rifle Association members in May.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — the lead law enforcement agency charged with regulating the gun industry — did not have a permanent director under President Trump. In July 2022, former federal prosecutor Steven Dettelbach became the first Senate-confirmed director of the agency in more than seven years.
“At noon on Inauguration Day, we will sack the anti-gun fanatic Steve Dettelbach,” Trump told the NRA in May. “Have you ever heard of him? He’s a disaster.”
Dettelbach has increased oversight of the firearms industry. In 2021, Biden ordered the agency to implement a zero tolerance policy toward gun dealers who willfully sell to prohibited purchasers or fail to conduct background checks. The policy resulted in the ATF revoking more gun store licenses in 2024 than in any year over at least the past two decades.
Biden also ordered the ATF to issue annual reports on gun trafficking, something it hadn’t done in two decades. The agency has released three, with a fourth volume expected by the end of Biden’s term.
“I don’t think we will see that under a Trump administration, and that will make it really hard for researchers and law enforcement to understand how guns are moving and trafficking and which policies are best,” said Nick Wilson of he Center for American Progress Action Fund, a progressive think tank.
Biden launched the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention last year to coordinate federal efforts for a more holistic approach to the issue.
The office launched a resource center to help states implement red flag laws, which temporarily disarm people deemed to be a danger to themselves or others.
Advocates expect the office to be shuttered as soon as Trump takes office.
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, passed in 2022 after mass shootings in Uvalde, Tex., and Buffalo, the law was the first significant gun reform law in nearly three decades, receiving bipartisan support in the Senate. It has since become a target.
Trump plans to unwind as much of it as he can via executive action, a gun-friendly attorney general, and a revamped ATF that favors gun rights over gun regulation.
“President Trump will appoint an ATF director who will review these extremely burdensome regulations that make Americans less safe,” the Trump campaign told the NRA’s America’s First Freedom magazine in October, calling it “unfortunate” that Biden signed the law.
The Trace says a prime target appears to be a provision of the law that clarifies when a gun seller must obtain a federal license. The change aimed to reduce the number of gun dealers avoiding licensure so they would not have to keep records or conduct background checks on their customers. The seemingly small shift had a notable effect: Within a year, prosecutions for unlicensed dealing rose by 52 percent.
“The reason that the Biden administration is pushing these rules is to make sure that their national gun registry, which President Trump will also undo, will be able to track more people who own guns,” the Trump campaign told the NRA’s magazine. (Neither the BSCA nor Biden’s executive actions create a national gun registry, which is prohibited by a 1986 federal law, but the NRA and gun rights advocates liken expanded background checks to a backdoor gun registry.)
The BSCA authorized more than $13 billion to support state crisis interventions like red flag laws, community-based violence intervention programs, school safety, and mental health services.
Congress funded the BSCA through 2026, but a Trump administration could alter grant programs to favor other crisis interventions over red flag laws or shift money from community-based programs to law enforcement initiatives.
Trump’s campaign told the NRA’s magazine that he plans to appoint a pro-gun attorney general — responsible for overseeing much of the funding — “who will stop the weaponization of government against lawful gun ownership and who will prioritize traditional law enforcement by catching and punishing criminals.”
Biden has announced more than 50 executive actions on gun violence, most of which could be easily rescinded or ignored under a Trump administration..